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Samurai Champloo


Fuu, Mugen and Jin met in the most unfortunate circumstances. What with being harassed in a tea shop, getting caught up in a brawl and being arrested and beaten up for killing a government official's son. Mugen and Jin managed to escape with the help of Fuu, but the young energetic woman did so on one condition - that they help her find the samurai who smells like sunflowers.

This 26-episode series featured the adventures of the trio as they searched for Fuu's father, revealed later by Fuu to her companions, in Edo Japan.

Fuu always seems to get into trouble with thugs and other troublemakers. She is always hungry too and in fact joined an eating contest where she almost won. Mugen too attracts a lot of trouble and he's always trying to instigate a fight with anyone who wanted to get in their way. Jin on the other hand was the quiet type and always seems to hold himself with dignity and composure. Both men differ in their style of fighting as well. Jin leaned more to the conventional style while Mugen had more flash and unpredictability. All in all it's a perfect formula for a whacky adventure.

But the series isn't all just laughs. Underneath all the comedy lies the stories of the characters. Jin made a name for himself when he killed his master. Mugen had a rocky past. And Fuu wanted to settle a score with her father.

The series also referred to historical events, places and people. Some of the supporting characters added more color, as well as the inclusion of hip-hop culture from time to time.

The fight scenes didn't disappoint. There were less conversations and more actions. I liked the match between Mugen and the blind musician/assassin Sara.

There were two episodes that didn't seem to make sense to me though (I haven't read the manga so if you did, kindly fill me in). One was episode 11: Gamblers and Gallantry where Jin fell in love with a woman. It seemed out of character for his type. I can't really be sure if it was love or just pity. Episode 22: Cosmic Collision seemed like it wasn't part of the story but it was still funny and weird.

There were hints of romance too between Fuu and her two bodyguards but that area wasn't explored fully. Can't really tell what Fuu felt for each of the guys (though she wrote in her diary that Jin is handsome)  and what Jin was about to say in episode 24 after they gathered around the bonfire.

From left: Mugen, Fuu and Jin

I would have loved to see more of their adventures together and the ending was somewhat bitter-sweet for me. Did they meet up again eventually at some point? Who knows. What I do know is that this is definitely one of the best series I watched and it's only right that I write this review after re-watching it for the second time. It has memorable characters, great adventures, hilarious episodes and good, short fight scenes. What more could I ask for? I'm giving Samurai Champloo a 10 out of 10 rating.

Trivia (taken from Wikipedia): Champloo or chanpuru means "to mix" or "to hash".
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